"...Grooving With A Pict..."
CD-wise - what we have here
is a reissue of a reissue.
26 September 2011 saw the
JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL PLANTE CD Remasters of the Pink Floyd catalogue hit the
shops to pretty much universal praise (they were transferred at Das Boot
Studios and all single issues were known as 'Discovery Editions'). These have
been superseded by the 15 January 2016 'Pink Floyd Records' Reissues – in most
cases featuring upgraded artwork but still using the 2011 Remaster.
The August 1967 debut album
"The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is PFR1, June 1968's second album
"A Saucerful Of Secrets" is PFR2 while June 1969's Soundtrack From
The Film "More" is PFR3 (all Stereo) and so on. Their fourth release,
the half-live, half-studio October 1969 double-album "Ummagumma" is
PFR4.
So what's new (if anything)?
The 2011 2CD set had specially commissioned artwork for the CDs (most of which
I personally thought were meaningless rubbish images) - these 2016 replacements
have swapped out those with a picture CD for each – usually always album
artwork. PRF4 also has a tri-gatefold card sleeve, title sticker (on the
shrink-warp) and although the colour booklet is still 16-pages long, it is
newly laid out. You get the striking and iconic original Hipgnosis gatefold
artwork (the equipment shot on the back cover is the past page of the booklet
in near perfect quality), lyrics to all the songs (including live) and new band
images from the period. A very cool inclusion is a proof set of photographs of
each band member - going some way towards showing how they were spliced to make
that 'window within a window' effect. I'd call it more coherent even if it does
lack an essay enlightening the listener as to the history of the band and these
new 1969 studio tracks.
But the real deal here is the
AUDIO - and for those of us who remember our crackly SHDW 1/2 vinyls all too
well - the sonic upgrade in the 2011 Remasters is massive. The Live Set is
fantastically clear - the trippy drums and keyboard sound stage so much more
centered - and that scream during "Careful With That Axe, Eugene"
launches out of your speakers with frightening reality (as it was no doubt
originally intended to do). Same too on the studio side - big improvements.
Let's get to the Grantchester Meadows...
UK re-released 15 January
2016 - "Ummagumma" by PINK FLOYD on Warner Music Group/Pink Floyd
Records PFR4 (Barcode 5099902893723) is a 2CD Remaster of the October 1969
double-album. This 2016 reissue has the same Barcode and International
Catalogue Number as the 26 September 2011 'Discovery Edition' on EMI 50999
028937 2 3 but has the addition of 'Pink Floyd Records' catalogue numbers
(PRF1, PRF2 etc) and upgraded artwork. As both releases have the same barcode,
if you want 2011 rather than 2016, then you may have to specify this when
purchasing. It plays out as follows:
CD1 "Live Album"
(39:40 minutes):
1. Astronomy Domine [Side 1]
2. Careful With That Axe,
Eugene
3. Set The Controls For The
Heart Of The Sun [Side 2]
4. A Saucerful Of Secrets
Recorded at Mothers Club,
Birmingham, 27 April 1969 and Manchester College Of Commerce, 2 May 1969
CD2 "Studio Album"
(47:02 minutes):
1. Sysyphus - Part One [Side
3]
2. Sysyphus - Part Two
3. Sysyphus - Part Three
4. Sysyphus - Part Four
5. Grantchester Meadows
6. Several Species Of Small
Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict
7. The Narrow Way - Part One
[Side 4]
8. The Narrow Way - Part Two
9. The Narrow Way - Part
Three
10. The Grand Vizier's Garden
Party - Part One - Entrance
11. The Grand Vizier's Garden
Party - Part Two - Entertainment
12. The Grand Vizier's Garden
Party - Part Three – Exit
The double-album
"Ummagumma" was released 7 November 1969 in the UK on Harvest SHDW 1
/ 2 and in the USA on Harvest SKBB 388 (8 November 1969). Produced by PINK FLOYD (Live) and
NORMAN SMITH (Studio) – it peaked at No. 5 in the UK LP charts and No. 74 in
the USA. On CD2 - Richard Wright wrote all of "Sysyphus", Roger
Waters wrote "Grantchester Meadows" and "Several
Species..." - David Gilmour wrote all of "The Narrow Way" and
Nick Mason wrote all of "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party".
The Live Set was a clever way
(in some respects) for the four piece Pink Floyd to close the Syd Barrett
chapter while the studio set showed they were moving on. And I'm amazed at how
good the transfer is - "A Saucerful Of Secrets" giving it some
Sixties Psych. The crescendo Part One of "Sysyphus" sounds good but
not as clean as the piano solo Part Two. And those organ notes that lead in
Part Four give way to vibes and bird noises that used to sound so far away they
were irritating. Can't say I'm a fan of the doomy organ later on - hasn't aged
well.
But if I was to pick out one
track that astonishes - it's the Waters written "Grantchester
Meadows" where bird tweeting slips the song in - the acoustic guitar and
kingfisher lyrics clear as a bell - such an amazing clarity to the solo too.
The five-minute "Several Species..." once again features percussion noises
mixed up with animal tweets and chirps and by the time the indecipherable
echoed lyrics come in - it may sound good but it's insufferable.
Guitarist David Gilmour's
"The Narrow Way" comes as a Roy Harper-type blessed relief - gorgeous
acoustic guitars swirling around your speakers as they mix with
way-up-the-fretboard slide guitar notes - all of it filling up an ethereal
vibe. It's one of my fave tracks on the album and to hear it sound this good is
an absolute blast (I can also sequence fade-out that crude segue into Part Two
at the end). The heavy-heavy grunge guitars of Part Two just sounds like period
noodle to me now - but its rescued by the seven minutes of lyrics and
very-Floyd Part Three.
Mason chooses a flute to open
his three-parter "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" but it’s soon
abandoned for experimental drum sounds and percussion noises – again great
audio – but noodle that may have been interesting then but only feels
ludicrously self-indulgent now. And it ends on fifty seconds or so of flute.
My problem with
"Ummagumma" is that even when I struggled with it back in the day, I
liked Pink Floyd. But five decades haven't been kind to the worst early
excesses of the band - this sort of Experimental knob constantly pawned off on
us as some kind of genius because it bears the PF moniker.
Fans will adore it for sure
and Hell, probably bought it back in September 2011 (especially given the
fantastic Das Boot Studios audio upgrade). But the uninitiated need to hear
first, because 1970's "Atom Heart Mother", 1971's "Meddle"
and 1972's "Obscured By Clouds" were so much musically better...
